On June 16 the Regional Transit Committee, a committee composed of elected leaders from across King County, unanimously voted to approve a new vision for our Metro Transit bus system by adopting a the Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021. The plan is the first of its kind in the nation, guiding where and how Metro delivers transit service to you and other King County residents for the next decade.

Transit service is important to everyone in King County, whether you take the bus or not – it keeps our economy moving by getting people to their jobs and helps manage congestion by getting people out of their cars. That is why I want to let you know more about the plan and why it’s important to you.

This plan is based on three core values:

• Productivity: moving the most people with our transit system in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

• Social Equity: prioritizing transit service to make sure those who need transit the most – those who depend on it – receive it.

Geographic Value: honoring that every community needs transit service, but recognizing that investments should be appropriate to the population and demand from various communities.

Using these core values, the plan sets goals for regional transit by establishing guidelines for the way Metro determines transit service throughout King County.

What sets this plan apart from Metro’s current way of operating is that it has Metro put what’s most important in a transit system first – providing you with a fair, well-run and cost- effective transit system. It’s not based on politics or a rigid formula like 40/40/20, which is our current plan.

I want to give you some history about 40/40/20.

About a decade ago, regional leaders intuitively sensed that bus hour allocations – how much bus service a community received – was unfair.  Up until then, Metro had distributed services using a hub and spoke model – a model designed primarily to bring people to and from the “hub” of downtown Seattle. This was because when Metro was created, most jobs were in Seattle and it was important to the economy to move people in and out of the Seattle. However, the hub and spoke model quickly became outdated.

Over the last few decades population and job growth in the suburbs has surpassed the growth in Seattle. For example, the latest Census data revealed that the population in my suburban district, which includes Kent, Renton, Tukwila, SeaTac and Des Moines, grew by almost 12 percent over the last ten years, while council districts in Seattle grew at a slower pace between 5 and 10 percent. Even more telling is the growth of more than 17 percent in Southeast King County.

However, transit service had not matched that growth. Therefore, the region was looking for a policy that would help the suburbs catch up with the demand that growth was creating for transit service.

That is why in 2002, the County Council adopted the 40/40/20 policy. 40/40/20 said that new bus hours – how much bus service each community receives – would be divided 40 percent into the south suburbs, 40 percent into the eastside suburbs and 20% into Seattle.

For the last nine years the suburbs have embraced 40/40/20.

However, today there is a new plan – a plan that is based on three values that result in the fair distribution of bus hours for all communities in King County.  This plan also supports growth and is in keeping with our environmental policies. As a representative of the suburbs, I feel confident this plan represents the right direction.

This new plan for transit service will put King County on the national map.

Transit agencies across the country will look to King County Metro to learn how to do transit “right.”

• Right by our riders by delivering service where it’s needed, and also a commitment to communities that they will have some level of transit even in the worst financial circumstances.

• Right by you, our taxpayers, by investing our limited dollars in a clear and transparent way.

• Right by our environment by helping more people get out of their cars, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ultimately, this Strategic Plan represents a new way to build and transit system and I am honored to support this plan.

You can read more about the plan at: http://metro.kingcounty.gov/planning.

Julia Patterson of Seatac represents part of Renton on the King County Council.